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Motel air conditoner setting

My wife is a manager of a nation chain motel. We live on the property. I do not do maintenance ( I work elsewhere)but I get to hear all the complaining. Recently the corporation came up with the idea to adjust the minimum and maximum setting inside the window air conditioners so that regardless of what the displays says the guests can not run the units too cold. Its like forcing the guests to set the units higher.

My thinking is they will just try to run them longer and they will not save any money in the long run.

Another question is how can you make the things not so noisy when they run? The walls can be pretty thin.

Also, I live In Idaho where summer night time temperatures can be 50-65 degrees. yet folks are still running the air conditioners. Would attic fans running at night help?

I can see reasonable limits on what they can set to, that is getting rather common. Probably not much can be done to keep them from cooling on a cool night since the rooms will still be warm. Do the windows open? Even then, if that lets in road noise, people may not do that.

Only way to quiet those units is buy a good unit to begin with. And most these days are NOISY, even new. Motels don't spring for the quiet brands as they are more money.

BaldLoonie,
Reasonable limits? what is a reasonable limit to one is not to another. after a long days drive most folks want to chill out. I understand this. I am just wondering if they are really saving any money. I am not sure the company money crunchers understand this.
In this location the local power rates are .045 per kwh. The biggest load is in January and February not the summer. total yearly power bill last year was 20,000. That's about .70 per room on average.

You are right with the window open the outside noise can be louder. I keep mine open. Although this is Idaho and the freeway is not so loud. People starting up their Harleys... yes at times. kids swimming in the pool... only until 10. Some just like their privacy.

I was afraid you were going to say that the cheap air conditioners are just plain noisy. 0.20 ear plugs makes them go away but are uncomfortable. What is the difference between the cheap ones and the rest? rubber mounts or sound adsorbing materials? Maybe I can pack shredded tires into the walls above me.

This is and 80 unit motel with two stories and two buildings. The attic is about 3 feet high(according to the prints) Can you get much cooling by venting the attic at night with cool night air?

I would assume you would calculate the cubic footage up there and figure so many air changes an hour to determine the size fan to use?

You are lucky to be Idaho with typically low outdoor dew points. Limiting the setting to a minimum of like 72^F sounds resonable.
In green grass climates this is a much more serious problem of avoid a sinky mold loaded rooms because of overcooling the rooms. Customers over-cool to get comfortable. The problems is that a/c must remove sensible heat to remove latent heat. All of these occupied spaces need dehumdification without overcooling below the outside dew points. Lucky you.
Some motels use occupancy sensors to turn off the a/c when the room is unoccupied. This save big energy.
The small spaces like hotel rooms are difficult to add dehumidification to avoid the overcooling solution. In a home we add a whole house dehumidifier and we get the temp/%RH regardless of the outside conditions or inside loads.
Regards TB

Thanks that's a very good post. The price for electric power here is .045 per kwh. So any upgrades are hard to get approved since the payback is so long. So the real time to make upgrades is when they buy the new units. Motion sensors sounds great for other reasons as well. I would also network these and other sensors to the front desk. I never thought about the humidity before. Some of the properties have central air and heat instead of the window air conditioners/heaters. These properties would be easier to dehumidify the air. There is nothing worse then getting to a room and finding mold, dirt or some odd smell.

no that is city local planning from 1910 on and generating power within 10 miles of its use. Local people voting to support their city owned power company with their property taxes from 1910 on. It really makes the local wind turbines look stupid. They generate power for .20 /kwh and send it all the way to California. Now that is wasting resources.

We have been booked 100+ % each night the last 3 weeks(79 room motel). No some things you have to provide. one of them is air conditioning and heating. Even in the cheapest place. just one look at trip adviser comments with a broken air conditioner and you will see what I mean. Not only would they not come back they would head on down the road in the first place. As would I.